Visitbritain Market Profile
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Market and Trade Profile GCC Market and Trade Profile: GCC Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE Market and Trade Profile GCC Overview • This market profile provides statistics about the visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), that is to say people of all nationalities residing in the six countries forming the GCC: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). • Chapter 1: Inbound market statistics provides insights on key statistics about GCC travellers and who they are. It takes a look at Britain and its competitive set as well as activities of Gulf visitors in the UK. • Chapter 2: Understanding the market takes a close look at Gulf consumer trends, booking, planning and further travel behaviour of this source market. Perceptions of Britain held by the Gulf residents are also highlighted. • Chapter 3: Access and travel trade shows how the Gulf residents travel to the UK, how to best cater for their needs and wants during their stay and gives insights into the Gulf travel trade. Further ways of working with VisitBritain and other useful research resources are pointed out. 2 Market and Trade Profile GCC Contents Chapter 1: Market statistics 1.1 Key statistics 6 1.2 Visitor demographics 18 1.3 Britain & competitors 23 1.4 Inbound activities 26 Chapter 2: Understanding the Market 2.1 Structural drivers 33 2.2 Consumer trends 38 2.3 Booking and planning 43 2.4 Reaching the consumer 46 2.5 Perceptions of Britain 52 Chapter 3: Access and Travel Trade 3.1 Access 57 3.2 Travel trade 61 3.3 Caring for the consumer 68 3.4 Working with VisitBritain 74 3.5 Useful resources 75 Appendix Individual inbound market overviews 77 3 Market and Trade Profile GCC Chapter 1: Inbound market statistics 4 Market and Trade Profile GCC Chapter 1: Inbound market statistics Chapter summary • The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises six countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and 2016: the UAE. Despite some differences, there are many similarities in their economies, culture and travel trends. £1.4bn • In 2016, visits to other GCC countries accounted for over two thirds of the overall outbound visits from each of those spent in six markets put together. However, the UK is the most visited destination of each GCC market in Western Europe. • Added together, the GCC would be the 3rd most valuable the UK inbound market to the UK, with very high average spend per visit. • Over 40% of GCC visits happen in the summer months and almost half are from UAE visitors. There is a high proportion of UK expats living in the GCC coming back home. GCC nationals tend to come more for holidays, with London being their favourite destination by far. • Main activities undertaken in the UK include dining in restaurants, shopping and visiting parks or gardens. Source: International Passenger Survey by ONS, Oxford Economics (outbound overnight trips) 5 Market and Trade Profile GCC Chapter 1.1: Key statistics Key insights • The GCC outbound markets are among the most valuable, with nationals being very high spenders when they travel rd abroad. The UK is their favourite destination in Europe. 3 • Considering all GCC countries together, the Gulf market most valuable would be Britain’s 15th largest source market in terms of rd inbound market visits and 3 most valuable for visitor spending in 2016*. for the UK (2016)* • Almost half of visits from the GCC are made by UAE residents (47% in 2016). However, there is a high proportion of visits made by UK expats: they accounted for 46% of all visits from the UAE in 2016, compared to 17% Emirati nationals. For Qatar, GCC nationals also comprise a minority of visits to the UK. • Almost half of visits are made for holidays, followed by visiting friends and relatives (VFR). However, the importance of VFR is skewed towards the high proportion of UK expats’ visits. • Over 40% of GCC visits happen during the summer and London is by far their main destination in the UK. Source: International Passenger Survey by ONS, Oxford Economics (outbound overnight trips) *If considered as a single market 6 Market and Trade Profile GCC 1.1 Key statistics: global context Global context (2016) Measure Bahrain* Kuwait Oman* Qatar Saudi Arabia UAE International tourism 0.6 12.3 1.5 9.1 18.7 17.1 expenditure (US$bn) Global rank for international tourism >50 25 >50 31 15 18 expenditure Number of outbound 1.77 4.00 1.88 1.39 9.30 3.16 overnight visits (m) Most visited destination Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia UAE Saudi Arabia UAE Saudi Arabia overall Most visited destination United United United United United United in Western Europe Kingdom Kingdom Kingdom Kingdom Kingdom Kingdom Source: UNWTO, Oxford Economics *Note: Spending data for Bahrain and Oman comes from Oxford Economics as these markets are not in the UNWTO top 50 outbound tourism spending markets 7 Market and Trade Profile GCC 1.1 Key statistics: 10 year trend Inbound travel to Britain overview Measure Visits Nights Spend (000s) (000s) (£m) 10 year trend 2007 408 5,687 620 2008 454 6,282 744 2009 494 7,353 856 2010 440 6,136 771 2011 499 7,013 881 2012 530 6,419 1,173 2013 684 10,398 1,833 2014 615 8,510 1,458 2015 724 10,672 1,591 2016 777 9,521 1,431 Share of UK total in 2016 2.1% 3.4% 6.3% Source: International Passenger Survey by ONS 8 Market and Trade Profile GCC 1.1 Key statistics: latest figures Inbound travel to Britain overview Measure GCC Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi UAE Arabia Visits (000s, 2016) 777 31 112 36 82 152 365 • Rank out of UK top markets • 15* • 66 • 44 • 64 • 50 • 39 • 21 Nights (000s, 2016) 9,521 419 1,431 514 1,141 2,464 3,551 • Rank out of UK top markets • 11* • 65 • 41 • 59 • 45 • 25 • 17 Spend (£m, 2016) 1,431 72 222 48 163 360 566 • Rank out of UK top markets • 3* • 49 • 23 • 57 • 33 • 18 • 11 Nights per visit (2014-2016) • Overall • 14 • 15 • 17 • 18 • 13 • 17 • 11 • Holiday • 12 • 16 • 13 • 10 • 10 • 12 • 11 Spend per night (2014-2016) • Overall • 156 • 138 • 178 • 84 • 157 • 172 • 146 • Holiday • 211 • 178 • 217 • 147 • 257 • 235 • 178 Spend per visit (2014-2016) • Overall • 2,118 • 2,046 • 3,031 • 1,511 • 2,104 • 2,886 • 1,533 • Holiday • 2,529 • 2,816 • 2,840 • 1,460 • 2,634 • 2,939 • 1,996 Source: International Passenger Survey by ONS *If considered as a single market (as standard, inbound rankings do not consider GCC a single market) 9 Market and Trade Profile GCC 1.1 Key statistics: journey purpose Journey purpose 2016 Journey purpose trend (visits 000s) Share of Holiday Business VFR Study Misc. 350 visits for… 327 300 293 Bahrain 48% 5% 38% 0% 10% 250 Kuwait 65% 5% 21% 1% 8% 200 Oman 36% 4% 46% 3% 10% 150 Qatar 44% 6% 40% <1% 9% 100 90 Saudi Arabia 54% 10% 25% 4% 7% 50 52 13 UAE 30% 17% 47% 1% 5% 0 GCC 42% 12% 38% 2% 7% All markets 37% 24% 31% 1% 6% Holiday Business VFR Study Misc. • Looking at the individual Gulf markets, holiday is the most • Holiday visits and visits to friends and relatives (VFR) common journey purpose to visit the UK except in Oman and account for 80% of all visits from the GCC to the UK in 2016. UAE where the main reason is to visit friends and relatives, with • Those two types of visits largely account for most of the almost one-in-two visits from those two markets to the UK made increase in visitors from the Gulf to the UK since the 2000s, for that reason. In all markets there are only a few visits to the as business visits, studying trips and visits for miscellaneous UK for studying purposes. purposes remained about stable in the last years. • 82% of staying holidaymakers from the Gulf (excl. UK • In terms of value, over 50% of inbound Gulf spending in the nationals) in 2015 were repeat visitors, with 3.5 visits to the UK UK came from holiday visitors in 2016. on average within the last 10 years (compared to 63% and 2.7 • While both business and holiday visitors from the Gulf spent visits in 10 years for the all-market average). more on average per visit and per night in 2016 than those visiting friends or relatives, the latter stayed longer. Source: International Passenger Survey by ONS; repeat / first time visitors question asked in 2015 10 Market and Trade Profile GCC 1.1 Key statistics: seasonality Seasonality 2016 • GCC visitors tend to come to the UK in the summer months: in 2016, just over 2-in-5 visits from the GCC overall to the 50% UK were made between July and September. 41% 40% • All individual Gulf markets also follow the pattern of a strong 28% third quarter: it is the time of the year when temperatures in 30% 27% 25% 20% 21% the Gulf are at their highest. For this reason, many go on 20% 19% 18% holiday in places where the climate is milder during the 10% summer months. Share Share of visits 0% • However, the influence of the Eid-al-Fitr and the Eid-al-Adha Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec celebrations account for some variations over the years. In GCC All markets 2013, the Eid-al-Adha was celebrated mid-October, which can explain the peak in Q4 visits from the GCC to the UK that year.